High speed article coding machine

ABSTRACT

An improved coder is described for applying a legend or a code to an article such as a sealed package. As the articles move past the coder on a conveyor, the code symbols are applied to the moving articles by spaced coding heads on a rotating coding wheel. Improved means are provided to feed the required amount of ink from a reservoir to each of the coding heads. This means includes a thin rotating disc whose edge passes through the ink reservoir and which carries a bead of ink first to a transfer wheel. An improved ink transfer is obtained by spacing the disc from the transfer wheel so that the only direct contact is between a bead of ink on the disc and the transfer wheel. Adjustment of the disc rotational speed independently of the transfer wheel speed and the preset disc and transfer wheel spacing precisely control the amount of ink transferred. The transfer wheel engages a spreader wheel which in turn transfers the coding ink to the heads of the coding wheel.

United States Patent 1 1 Roberts Jan. 22, 1974 HIGH SPEED ARTICLE CODINGMACHINE Primary ExaminerRobert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examine -Paul T.Sewell [75] Inventor. Cecll P' Roberts Lancaster Ohm Attorney, Agent, orF irn1 Holland. Armstrong. [73] Assignee: Anchor Hocking Corporation, wi & P i

Lancaster, Ohio I [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Oct. 6, 1971 An improvedcoder is described for applying a legend [21] Appl- 186,868 or a code toan article such as a sealed package. As the articles move past the coderon a conveyor, the 52 us. 01 101/35, 101/350, l0l/364 code Symbols arepp to the moving articles y 51 Int. Cl. B41f 17/16, B4lf 3l/06 SpacedCoding heads on a rotating coding wheel- [58] Field of Search 101/35,348, 350, 36, 349, Proved means are Provided to feed the required 01 3 33 4 amount of ink from a reservoir to each of the coding 1 heads. Thismeans includes a thin rotating disc whose [56 References Cited edgepasses through the ink reservoir and which car- UNITED STATES PATENTSries a head of ink first to a transfer wheel. An improved ink transferis obtained by spacing the disc iifiijlii 351332 v'ii'ifilfiiijii.::::"'""::::;..l."M53323 f so that direct Contact 2,121,947 6/1938Bodkin 101/350 x between. a bead of the 9 and the trapsfer 2,526,25410/1950 Meyer 101/350 wheel- Adlustmem of the manonal Speed 2,674,9394/1954 Brengmannn U 101/35 pendently of the transfer wheel speed and thepreset 2,775,193 12 195 Masteua I 101 350 X disc and transfer wheelspacing precisely control the 2,875,685 3/1959 Hendry 101/348 X amountof ink transferred. The transfer wheel engages 3,059,571 2 o th t rl01/35 a spreader wheel which in turn transfers the coding 3,098,4377/1963 Tyma 6t 8]... 10i/350 to the heads of the coding whee] 3,394,65l7/1968 Ochs 10l/35 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures mmmmzzm v 3786.746

sum 2 or 4 I Ti fi.. 2O

' INVENTOR.

jwmm/m BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT The coder of the present invention is useful for a vari- Thepresent invention relates to devices for automatiety of article codingor printing operations where artically applying an identifying code tofood packages or other articles in a packaging or other article conveyorsystem. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a coderwhich is adapted for reliable continuous operation at extremely highspeeds.

The continually increasing demand for packaged articles and particularlyfor food packages as well as increasingly strict standards of packageand package lot identification have created a need for article codingapparatus which is capable of reliable operation at extremely highspeeds. The most effective coding means for articles such as foodpackages has been found to be means for the application of a code symbolprinted in an ink or similar formulation directly on a cover or otherpanel of the sealed package. As the speeds of the package handlingsystems have increased and as the codes applied to the packages havebecome more complex, the present coders have been found to be unreliableand in particular to be deficient in their ability to feed an inkcoating of proper and uniform thickness to the coding stamps or heads ofthe coding machines.

The improved coding machine of the present invention is useful atextremely high speeds and has an improved ink feed system which iscapable of being adjusted for both differingspeeds, differing inks anddifferent coding techniques.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide animproved high speed article coding machine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a high speedarticle coding machine which is readily adjusted for differing speedsand coding inks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a more reliablehigh speed article coding machine.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF-THE DRAWING A preferred embodiment of the inventionhas been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and isshown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating a coding machine inaccordance with the present invention positioned on the outlet of a highspeed package sealing machine.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the coding machine taken alongline 22 of FIG. I.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 33 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed elevational view illustrating the inktransfer between the inking disc and the transfer wheel.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the coding machine illustratingthe driving gear trains taken along line 5-5 on FIG. 3.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are vertical sectional views taken along lines 6--6 and7-7 on FIG. 5.

cles are being moved at relatively high speeds in spaced relation toeach other on a conveyor. The coder will now be described in a typicalhigh speed packaging operation where identifying code legends are beingprinted onto the tops of sealed containers such as glass containerssealed with closure caps. The improved coder is obviously useful inother packaging or article handling systems.

FIG. 1 shows a high speed rotary sealing machine 1 where filled glasscontainers 2 are fed beneath a rotating turret 3 having a number ofsealing heads 4 mounted at its periphery. A metal or plastic closure cap5 is applied to each of the moving containers 2 by a head 4. An outputstar wheel 6 coupled to the turret drive, as indicated by a drive train7 including a vertical drive shaft 8, rotates in synchronism with theturret 3 and carries the sealed packages 9 out of the machine 1 forbeing passed onto a package inspection or other conveyor. Each of thepackages 9 is seen to be carried by the rotating exit star wheel 6beneath a coder 10 in accordance with the present invention which has arotating code wheel 11 for carrying code heads 12 against the caps 5 ofthe sealed packages 9.

The coder 10, in accordance with the present invention, must operate insynchronism with its cooperating article conveyor which in the caseillustrated is the rotating exit star wheel 6. The coder 10 is,therefore, conveniently driven by a coupling to the article conveyorsuch as by the direct coupling 7 to the vertical drive shaft 8 for theexit star wheel 9. This adjustable speed coupling and the other detailsof the improved coder 10 will now be described.

The coder 10 comprises a molded rigid metal casing 13 for mounting itsseveral parts in a rigid manner while permitting disassembly forinspection and adjustment. The principal portions of the casing 13comprise an inner support flange 14 to which is bolted a drive housingcomprising inner and outer sections 15 and 16 respectively, includingsuitable bearings for the various drive shafts. The hollow ink reservoir17 is mounted on the outer surface of the outer casing portion 16 andcomprises the ink reservoir 18 and an upper removable top 19.

The improved ink transfer means for carrying coding ink 20 from thereservoir I7 to the coding wheel will now be described with particularreference to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The article coding wheel 11 is seen to be mounted on a horizontal driveshaft 22 supported in spaced bearings 23 and 24 in the flange l4 and inthe outer housing 16. This drive shaft 22 is rotated by a coupling tothe vertical exit star wheel drive shaft 8 through the intermediation ofgears 25 and 26. This causes the coding wheel 11 to rotate in exactsynchronism with the exit star wheel 6. The coding wheel 11 isdetachably mounted on the outer end of the shaft 22 by a knurledcoupling knob 27. Several coding heads 12 are mounted on the outersurface of the coding wheel II in spaced arrangement for engaging thetop surfaces of the articles being coded. The improved means fortransferring the coding ink 20 from the reservoir 17 to the rotatingcoding wheel 11 will now be described.

The first member of the transfer system comprises a thin rotating inkingdisc 30 having its outer edge immersed in the ink 20 within thereservoir 17. This inking disc 30 is rotated at a selected speed throughthe intermediation of an adjustable gear drive system 31 best seen inFIGS. and 6. The drive system 31 includes a horizontal support shaft 32for the inking disc 30 mounted in a bearing 33 on the outer housing 16and having a drive gear 35 attached at its inner end. The drive gear 35is coupled to the code wheel drive shaft 22 through a gear trainincluding gears 35 through 40. This gear train is seen to consist of thesix gears 35-40 providing a means for rotating the disc at a differentspeed from the coding wheel 11. The inking disc 30 rotational speed ismade adjustably different from the coding wheel 11 speed by providing anumber of interchangable gears or gear sets permitting a wide range ofspeed adjustments for the inking disc 30, all of which provide an exactand constant speed ratio between the speed of the inking disc 30 and therotational speed of the coding wheel 11. The thin inking disc 30, duringrotation, picks up a bead 41 of coding ink 20 at its outer rim. Thisbead 41 is transferred to a rotating ink transfer wheel 42 which, asillustrated in FIG. 4, has its periphery spaced from the surface of therotating inking disc 30. This spacing, which is relatively slight,provides for a transfer of a constant volume of ink depending upon therelative rotational speeds of the inking disc 30 and the transfer wheel42. The transfer wheel 42 is seen to be mounted upon its own independentsupport shaft 43 in a bearing 44 mounted in the outer casing 16. The inktransfer wheel 42 is preferably of a relatively soft material such asrubber and it has its outer surface in engagement with the surface of athird wheel which is the ink spreader wheel 45. The operation of thespreader wheel 45 as it rotates in engagement with the transfer wheel 42forms a uniform and wide ink coating on its surface for the finaltransfer to the coding heads 12 on the rotating coding wheel 11. Thespreader wheel 45 is also mounted on its own independent support shaft46 mounted in a bearing 47 in the outer casing 16.

The transfer wheel 42 and the spreader wheel 45 are preferably driven sothat their outer inking surfaces move at the same speed as the inkingsurfaces on the several inking heads 12 on the coding wheel 11. Thisresult is obtained through a chain of drive gears 48 (FIGs. 5 and 7)which couples the transfer wheel 42 and the spreader wheel 45 directlyto the coding wheel shaft 22. This drive chain is seen to includeremovable gears 50-55 which permit the speed of the transfer wheel 42and the spreader wheel 45 to be adjusted as necessary.

OPERATION OF THE CODER It is, therefore, seen that the above describedcoder is positioned on a portion of a packaging or conveying systemwhere the packages are moved in spaced relationship under the coder 10.FIG. 1 illustrates a typical and a particularly suitable use of thecoder 10 where it is mounted directly upon the outlet star wheel 6 ofthe rotary sealing machine 1. Sealed containers 9 sealed with closurecaps 5 are carried out of the sealing turret 3 in the spaced pockets ofthe outlet star wheel 6. These containers 9 are, therefore, moving in aprecisely spaced arrangement and at a constant and predetermined speedunder the coder 10 of this invention. FIG. I shows the coder 10 attachedto the star wheel support frame so that it may be operatively coupleddirectly to the vertical drive wheel shaft 8 which is driven from thesealing machine 1 through drive system 62-66. A positive geared coupling25, 26 (FIG. 5) between the drive shaft 8 and the code wheel 11 permitsthe coding heads 12 on the code wheel 11 to move at the same speed asthe container tops as the containers 9 pass beneath the coder 10.

As already indicated, the coder 10 is particularly useful for high speedcoding operations where packages may pass beneath it at speeds up to1,000 articles per minute and higher. The system for providing the inkto the coding heads 12 in a reliable manner at this high speed includesthe thin rotating inking disc 30 which, as seen in FIG. 2, carries ink20 from the ink reservoir 17 to the rotating ink transfer wheel 42. Inparticular, the disc 30, as seen in FIG. 4, is seen to carry a narrowbead 41 of the ink on its rim to a point adjacent to but spaced from theink transfer wheel 42. The ink transfer wheel 42, which is rotating inthe same direction as the disc 30, is, therefore, fed a continuous andconstant supply of ink which is determined by the adjustable speed ofrotation of the inking disc 30 as well as by its preset spacing from thetransfer wheel 42. The transfer wheel 42 rotates with a surface speedsimilar to that of the surface speed of the inking heads 12 so that bydirect contact it may pass ink onto the spreader wheel 45 and so thatthe spreader wheel 45 may then transfer an ink coating of the properthickness to the moving inking heads 12.

The above described gear train 31 coupling the inking disc 30 to thedrive system and providing an adjustable disc speed is seen to besynchronized with but to permit speed adjustment of the inking disc 30relative to the speed of the coding wheel 11 as well as of the transferand spreader wheels 42 and 45. The second gear train 48 which drives thetransfer wheel 42 and the spreader wheel 45 is seen to permit the properadjustment of these wheel speeds independently of the rotational speedof the inking disc 30. The height of the coder may be adjusted by movingthe housing together with the beveled ring gear 25 axially of the starwheel drive shaft 8.

It will be seen that an improved coder has been provided for codingpackages at high speeds. The improved coder, in particular, has a meansfor applying an exactly predetermined amount of ink for each coding headso that high speed coding may be done with a clear coding print andwithout excess ink being present in the system. The inking controlsystem, including the improved inking disc, is adjustable so thatadjustments of ink supply rate may be made to make the system operativefor varying code symbols and package speeds and making the system widelyapplicable to a variety of high speed coding operations.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a coder for applying legends to surfaces of moving articles usinga driven coding wheel which is fed with ink from an ink reservoir animproved ink transfer means for transferring ink from the reservoir tothe coding wheel comprising the combination of:

an inking disc having a relatively thin outer edge positioned withinsaid reservoir for picking up a bead only of the ink: I

means for rotatably mounting said inking disc;

drive means for rotating said inking disc;

a rotatably mounted ink transfer wheel for receiving said bead of inkfrom said inking disc;

said ink transfer wheel being relatively thick at its ink receivingsurface compared to said edge of said inking disc;

said inking disc being positioned with its outer edge spaced slightlyfrom the outer surface of said transfer wheel whereby the bead of ink onthe inking disc is engaged by and transferred to the surface of saidtransfer wheel;

drive means for rotating said transfer wheel in the same direction asthe direction of rotation as said inking disc whereby their said spacedouter disc edge and wheel surface pass each other in oppositedirections; and

said first and second drive means including speed control means fordriving said disc and said transfer wheel at adjustably differingspeeds.

2. The coder as claimed in claim 1 in which said speed control means forsaid disc and said transfer wheel comprises gear trains with replaceablegears.

3. The coder as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises a drive shaftfor the coding wheel, a first gear train coupling said disc to saiddrive shaft and a second gear train coupling said transfer wheel to saiddrive shaft.

1. In a coder for applying legends to surfaces of moving articles usinga driven coding wheel which is fed with ink from an ink reservoir animproved ink transfer means for transferring ink from the reservoir tothe coding wheel comprising the combination of: an inking disc having arelatively thin outer edge positioned within said reservoir for pickingup a bead only of the ink: means for rotatably mounting said inkingdisc; drive means for rotating said inking disc; a rotatably mounted inktransfer wheel for receiving said bead of ink from said inking disc;said ink transfer wheel being relatively thick at its ink receivingsurface compared to said edge of said inking disc; said inking discbeing positioned with its outer edge spaced slightly from the outersurface of said transfer wheel whereby the bead of ink on the inkingdisc is engaged by and transferred to the surface of said transferwheel; drive means for rotating said transfer wheel in the samedirection as the direction of rotation as said inking disc whEreby theirsaid spaced outer disc edge and wheel surface pass each other inopposite directions; and said first and second drive means includingspeed control means for driving said disc and said transfer wheel atadjustably differing speeds.
 2. The coder as claimed in claim 1 in whichsaid speed control means for said disc and said transfer wheel comprisesgear trains with replaceable gears.
 3. The coder as claimed in claim 1which further comprises a drive shaft for the coding wheel, a first geartrain coupling said disc to said drive shaft and a second gear traincoupling said transfer wheel to said drive shaft.